


Mothers

by autisticaizawashouta



Series: Gender is Hard 'verse [18]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, Disabled Characters, Food, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Neglect, Lots of Moms, Mild Self-Deprecation, Mother's Day, Queer Characters, Queer Themes, Transgender Characters, mothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 19:45:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14654877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticaizawashouta/pseuds/autisticaizawashouta
Summary: It's Mother's Day. All four of them have mothers, in varying degrees of good parenting. This is their Mother's Day.





	Mothers

**Author's Note:**

> This is the GIHV, pronouns are as follows: Logan, xe/xir; Roman, they/them; Patton, he/him; Virgil, they/them  
> I think I tagged everything, let me know if I'm missing a warning.

Logan knew how lucky xe was to have xir mother. Maria Lehrer was a great mother, a great teacher, and a great person. Xe looked like her, enough that many of her colleagues remarked on it when they saw them together.

So Mother’s Day was an important holiday for Logan, even if Maria herself didn’t put much importance in it.

“I don’t need a special holiday to remember how much I love my mom,” she told xir once. “My mom’s been there for me every day, so I should be there for her every day.”

So, on the morning of Mother’s Day, even without a physical gift to give xir mom, Logan woke up early and snuck downstairs and into the kitchen… to find xir dad already there, getting ready to make pancakes.

“Wow, imagine finding you here,” he whispered, and Logan rolled xir eyes.

“I live here,” xe replied.

“Damn straight you do,” Evan said. “Or should I say…”

Logan groaned. “Not you, too.”

“Damn queer!” Evan finished, and Logan rolled xir eyes.

“Do you know how many of those jokes I put up with around Roman and their friends? They can’t go more than half an hour at the most without making one,” Logan said.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re all able to be so open about yourselves around each other,” Evan said, and Logan nodded.

“Thanks,” xe replied. “Now, pancakes?”

“Oh, yes, I suppose we should actually make them before trying to give them to your mom,” Evan agreed.

The pancakes were cooking when Maria walked into the kitchen, dressed in the old pair of sweats and t-shirt that were her pajamas.

“Pancakes? For me?” she asked, stretching her back out. “You didn’t have to.”

“We wanted to,” Logan replied. Maria’s face lit up, and she walked over to Logan.

“C’mere, you,” she said, pulling xir into a hug. Xe reciprocated, letting xir mom rest her head on xir shoulder. “You’re a good kid.”

Evan made an expression of mock-betrayal. “What about me? Am I not a good kid?”

“You’re not a kid, love,” Maria replied.

“I’m my parents’ kid,” Evan replied, holding up the spatula he was using for the pancakes.

Maria pointed at him. “You got me there.”

Evan and Logan finished up the pancakes and set the table for breakfast. The three family members sat down and began breakfast.

“These are very good,” Maria said. “Raspberries and blueberries in the pancakes? You outdid yourselves again.”

“Only the best for the best mother,” Evan replied, and Maria snorted.

“I’m hardly the best,” she replied.

“You’re better than some,” Logan said.

Maria nodded. “I sure hope so.”

They continued eating breakfast with light conversation, until Maria stopped and looked into her pancakes with a stunned look on her face.

“You know,” she said. “Logan, I don’t think I’ve ever told you I’m bisexual.”

Logan dropped xir fork. “Wait, what?”

 

* * *

Roman didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day. At least, they didn’t celebrate their mother. Once upon a time, they might have. When they were younger, before they knew they were queer, before they knew that their mother hated queers like them.

This Mother’s Day would be different, though. There was finally a mom-figure to celebrate: Drama Mom Christine Riviera.

Roman, Elliott, Katy, Reilly, Matt, and several other theatre kids had claimed some of the picnic tables at the park and were busy setting up for Christine’s surprise party. Calisto would be “picking” Christine up (really, she’d be picking him up and driving to the park, since he couldn’t drive yet).

They were going to make this year’s Mother’s Day a good day.

“Hey Ro, how’re you doing?” Matt asked, putting a hand on Roman’s arm.

Roman took a deep breath. “I’m… I’m good. Christine’s the mom to be celebrated today.”

“Yeah, well, she deserves it. She adopted a whole theatre department full of LGBT kids and somehow manages to still put up with us every day,” Matt agreed.

“She is not only Drama Mom, she is LGBT Mom,” Katy said as she walked over. “Pretty much every LGBT underclassman has adopted her back.”

“So who’s going to be Drama Mom next year?” Roman asked. “Since she’s, you know, graduating.”

Katy gripped Roman’s arm and keened dramatically. “She’s leaving us! Abandoning us! Going to the Dark Place!”

“High school is the Dark Place,” Matt countered. “And we’re already figured out who’s going to be Drama Mom next year: you, Roman.”

“What?” Roman gasped. “Me?”

“Who else?” Katy asked. “You’re the most dramatic of us all!”

Roman gasped. “I am not!”

“Yes, you are,” Katy replied. “Look sharp- here comes Christine!”

Christine’s car pulled up and parked, and she and Calisto got out. She walked towards the party, a confused expression on her face.

“What is this?” she asked.

“A tradition!” Scarlett, another senior, said. “Happy Mother’s Day, Drama Mom!”

Christine stared at the group of teenagers. “I… thank you.” She looked close to tears. “Thank you.”

“Of course, mom,” Reilly said, grinning at her.

She sniffled and chuckled. “Augh, come here you rascals!” She pulled Reilly into a hug, and the rest of the party walked over to her for a group hug.

When they drifted apart again to eat—Elliott had been barbecuing hotdogs and hamburgers, complete with vegan alternatives—Calisto followed Roman.

“Hey Roman,” he said.

“Hi Calisto,” Roman replied, hoping against all hope that they weren’t blushing too bad.

“How’ve you been?” Calisto asked.

“I’ve been good. You?” Roman replied.

Calisto smiled. “I’ve been good! Been looking forward to the next time you want to hang out.”

“Well,” Roman said, “I have a couple free afternoons this week? Have you seen Infinity War yet?”

“I haven’t,” Calisto replied. “Is it good?”

Roman paused for a moment. “Yeah, it’s good. I kinda hate Marvel for it, though.”

“Well,” Calisto said, shrugging. “We can see it and then hate Marvel together!”

“Does Wednesday work for you?” Roman asked. They hoped it did, because then they’d have to wait for Friday, and call them needy, but they didn’t want to wait until Friday.

“Yeah! Wednesday’s great,” Calisto replied.

Oh, thank whatever gods were out there. “I’ll look at showing times then!”

“Great,” Calisto said. “Do you want to go grab some food now?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Roman agreed.

A little ways away, Christine and Elliott were watching Roman and Calisto.

“Now that I think about it more,” Christine said. “I’d be okay if Roman dated my cousin. They’d make a cute couple.”

Elliott sighed with relief. Finally, Christine had relaxed on the whole Calisto dating thing.

 

* * *

Mother’s Day had always been a big deal in the Sanders family. Patton could remember Mother’s Days in the past, when all the non-mothers would work together to make a big dinner and treat all the mothers in the family. He had missed the last couple ones, but this year, he and Virgil were driving up to Scappoose for it. It would be the first time that Virgil would be going to the Mother’s Day celebration, and their first time meeting some of Patton’s family members.

They had already met Patton’s parents and sisters, and his grandparents, but this would be their first time meeting most of his cousins. They had met Joel, one of his cousins, several months ago when he needed a place to stay for a couple nights while he was in their area for a trip, but the rest of the cousins were still mostly unknown quantities.

Patton glanced over at them. The two of them were on I-5, approaching Wilsonville.

“Do you need to next rest area?” he asked.

“No,” Virgil replied. “I’m good. We should stop to let Caoimhe exercise some, though.”

“Alright,” Patton said. The rest station exit was in a couple miles, and Patton took it and parked a fair ways away from where most of the cars were parked. It was a nice rest area- there were plenty of trees, and best of all…

“Oh shit, I forgot this was the one with free coffee,” Virgil said. “Do you want some?” They vested Caoimhe up and hooked her leash on.

“Well, if we’re heading that direction anyways, we might as well,” Patton replied. “It feels good to get off the freeway.”

“Do you want me to drive the rest of the way?” Virgil asked. The three of them headed in the direction of the free coffee, taking their time to stretch and work some of the soreness from their muscles.

“I’ll be fine,” Patton replied. “Unless you want to.”

Virgil shrugged. “It… wouldn’t hurt. Driving would keep my mind occupied, at least.”

“Okay,” Patton agreed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’ve already done quite a bit talking about it. They’re just your family, and you’ve already reassured me several hundred times that I’ll be fine,” Virgil replied.

“They really are some of the most accepting people I know,” Patton said. “They barely blinked when I came out as non-binary.”

Virgil sighed. “Yeah. Just gotta tell my anxiety that.”

“I’ll physically fight your anxiety,” Patton said, his expression absolutely serious. Virgil chuckled.

“My anxiety’s not a physical thing, you can’t fight it like that,” they said, smile still on their lips.

“Well the impossible becomes possible when you put your mind to it,” Patton replied, grinning.

“Good luck with the magic required for that, then,” Virgil said.

The two of them retrieved their free coffee, and made their way back to the car. They loaded Caoimhe up and got back onto the freeway, this time with Virgil in the driver’s seat. The rest of the trip passed in a combination of only Patton’s Spotify playlist, and the occasional snippets of conversation.

The Sanders Family Mother’s Day Celebration (Patton-t Pending) was held in the fellowship hall of one of the local churches. It was in the evening, after the church’s own Mother’s Day service. There were several cars already parked there, and a couple of teenagers playing with a bouncy ball.

The two teenagers watched while Virgil parked the car, and they brightened up the moment Patton stepped out.

“Patton!” the taller one said, running over.

“Kevin!” Patton replied, hugging his cousin. “And Adam! Oh my gosh, you two look so grown up! Kevin, you’re graduating this year, right?”

“Yep!” Kevin replied. “I’m gonna be the valedictorian.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you!” Patton said.

“Hey, uh, not to be interrupting,” Adam said, pushing a lock of shaggy brown hair back from his face, “but who’s this?” He pointed at Virgil.

“Oh, uh, I’m Virgil,” they said.

“They’re my roommate!” Patton added.

Adam squinted at the two of them. “Is that your codeword for boyfriend? I’m not homophobic.”

Patton laughed. “No, we’re not dating, but if we were…”

“I wouldn’t be his boyfriend,” Virgil finished. “I’m non-binary.”

“Oh,” Kevin said. “Oh! Okay. Uh, that’s cool.”

Virgil finished vesting up Caoimhe and gave her the command to get out of the car.

“Oh, you have a dog! Oh, it’s a service dog,” Adam said, looking at Caoimhe.

“Her name’s Caoimhe,” Virgil replied. “It’s a Gaelic name, which means it’s spelled weird.”

“Oh! That’s cool!” Kevin said, lighting up. “I have a friend named Siobhan. Her family moved here from Ireland a few years ago.”

“My dad’s from Ireland,” Virgil replied. “I was born in the US, though.”

“Have you ever been to Ireland?” Kevin asked.

“A few times,” Virgil replied.

Patton watched Virgil and Kevin talk about Ireland, a smile on his face. Esme had joined him.

“Oh, they look so much better than the last time we saw them,” she said. “They’ve been recovering well?”

Patton nodded. “For the most part. Their hearing aids should be in by Tuesday, which is great. So far everything’s been manageable except for, well, the bills, but we’ll be able to handle those.”

Esme took her child’s hand and waited for him to look at her before speaking. “Don’t be ashamed to ask us for help. We’re family. Your aunts and uncles and grandparents would be more than willing to help out, too.”

“Thank you,” Patton replied.

“Of course. That’s what family’s for,” Esme said. “Kevin and Adam seem to have hit it off with them, let’s introduce them to the rest of the family.” She let go of Patton’s hand and walked over to Virgil, Kevin, and Adam.

“Hey there, you,” she said. “Long time no see. You ready to meet the rest of the Sanders clan?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Virgil replied, accepting her hug.

“They’re so much taller than her,” Adam whispered. “I am in awe.”

“They’re gonna be the tallest person here,” Kevin agreed.

The group walked into the church, greeted the moment the door opened by music playing and the sounds of people in the kitchen making kitchen noise.

In the fellowship hall, three women were sitting at a table together. One of them with grey hair, one with ginger hair, and one with curly black hair. All three were smiling.

“Esme!” the ginger-haired woman said. “And Patton! Geez, kiddo, it’s been ages!” She stood up and walked towards him.

“Hi, Aunt Camille!” he said. “How are things?”

“Oh, they’re good!” she said. “It’s so good to see you!”

“It’s good to see you too,” Patton said. The other two women were walking over. “Aunt Chloe! Grandma!”

Patton hugged his family members, and Grandma Margie was the first one to turn to Virgil.

“And you brought your friendly giant, too! They finally get a chance to meet the whole clan, then,” she said.

“Hey, Margie,” Virgil said, accepting her hug as well. The Sanders family was a very hug-happy family.

“I’m Aunt Camille,” Camille said. “I’m Oliver’s younger sister. Chloe’s husband, James, is the baby brother.”

From the kitchen, a loud groan could be heard.

“He has ears like an owl,” Chloe said. “I’m Aunt Chloe. You’ve probably already guessed, but I’m Kevin’s mom. Isla’s my other child.”

“Nice to meet you,” Virgil said. “I’m Virgil, Patton’s roommate.”

“Roommate, huh,” Camille said, squinting at them.

“We’re not dating,” Virgil corrected. Camille shrugged.

“Okay then,” she said.

Everyone jumped as squealing came from the kitchen.

“Isla! Get Nelly out of the kitchen! She’ll get fur everywhere!”

“Oops!”

A girl walked out of the kitchen, carrying a calico cat in her arms. She looked a lot like Chloe, but with lighter hair.

“Patton!” she exclaimed. “You made it this year!”

“I did!” Patton agreed.

Isla gasped. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No, this is Virgil, they’re my roommate and we’re not dating,” Patton corrected. Virgil waved.

“Oh, well, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Isla,” she said. “This is Nelly! Oh, you have a dog?”

“Yeah,” Virgil said. “Her name’s Caoimhe.”

“Oh, that’s neat! Nelly likes dogs,” Isla said. “My friends have three dogs and Nelly gets along with them great.”

“That’s good,” Virgil replied.

Gradually, Virgil was introduced to the rest of the family. They finally got to meet Chelsea and Tori, Patton’s younger sisters, and learned that Adam was Joel’s younger brother. They also met Adam and Joel’s father, Camille’s husband, Benjamin. James and Bill, Chloe’s husband and Margie’s husband, also eventually came out to meet Virgil.

Dinner was eventually on the table- vegetarian black bean chili, fruit salad, and steamed asparagus.

“We always eat vegetarian when the whole family gets together,” Patton said. Virgil was sitting in between him and Chloe. “Chelsea, Tori, Joel, and James and Chloe and Kevin and Isla are all vegetarian.”

“Oh, that’s neat,” Virgil said.

“So, tell me about your family,” Chloe said.

“That’s a very broadly-stated conversation starter,” Virgil replied, rolling their spoon between their fingers.

“Well, how come you’re not celebrating Mother’s Day with your family? Not that we mind having you here,” she said.

Virgil took a deep breath. “The less said about my mother, the better.”

“Oh,” Chloe said. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil shrugged. “You didn’t know.”

“Well, can I ask about your father?” Chloe said.

“He remarried. I haven’t talked to him and his family for… a while,” Virgil replied. Patton reached over and not-so-subtly took their hand, and they rolled their eyes affectionately at him.

“Well, we’re glad to have you with us,” Chloe said. “You’re welcome any time.”

Virgil’s heart skipped a beat. They had barely known these people for a couple hours. And they were already saying that, when they still knew next to nothing about them. They… weren’t quite sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, they were flattered and more than thankful. They were being accepted, as themself, by this family who barely knew them. On the other hand, they didn’t deserve it. This family barely knew them. They had no idea about any of their past, any of the things they had said and done.

They couldn’t quite shake the nagging thought that if this family knew, they wouldn’t be so quick to accept them.

They did their best to shove those thoughts aside and stay in the moment. They were with Patton, with Patton’s family, and it was already the best Mother’s Day they’d ever been a part of.

Good mothers did exist, and honestly, Virgil was about due for some good mothers.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! This wasn't originally what I had planned to be the next installment, but whatever! I hope you like it! We'll get to the angst sooner or later, although it's looking to be later at this point lol  
> I have a tumblr: @bird-based-anarchy  
> This universe also has an ask blog: @gender-is-hard-asks  
> With love,  
> Kestrel Daniel  
> (they/them, he/him)


End file.
